Pubdate: Fri, 22 Jun 2001
Source: Texas Observer (TX)
Copyright: 2001 The Texas Observer
Contact:  http://www.texasobserver.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/748
Author: Jim Hightower
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

THE HUSTLER

George W-the guy who claims to be President Compassionate, the guy who
concedes of himself that he "may or may not have committed" drug crimes
of "youthful indiscretion" well into his thirties-now is pushing a drug
policy of squinty-eyed intolerance, inflexibility meanness... and proven
stupidity. To put the hammer to the policy, President Nasty has chosen
John P Walters to be his Drug Czar. Walters is a hard-line,
shoot-'em-down, throw-'em-in-jail-and-throw-away-the-key drug hawk who
doesn't want to hear any wimpy talk about constitutional rights or the
need for drug treatment programs, which he has called "the latest
manifestation of the liberal's commitment to a 'therapeutic state.'"

W's new Czar is a right-wing ideologue who's made a career as a
professional drug-war hustler, talking tough at the expense of the sick
and impoverished he so gleefully exploits for his own advancement. 
Walters is the Dr. Strangelove of our country's absurd drug war. He
dismisses anyone who says our nation's prisons are too full; favors
longer jail sentences for marijuana users; has declared that there's too
much "treatment capacity" in the United States; opposes efforts to
address the racial discrepancies in drug enforcement; wants increased
militarization of the drug war; would like the government to expand our
drug war in Colombia; and opposes medical marijuana initiatives.

Walters was a deputy drug czar in Daddy Bush's administration, in charge
of reducing the supply of narcotics flowing into our country. Remember
what a success that was?
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